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William DeMott
| birth_place = Titusville, Florida | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = | trainer = Johnny Rodz | debut = 1990 | retired = |}} William (Bill) DeMott (November 10, 1966) is a semi-retired American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment as Hugh Morrus and Bill Demott respectively and as Crash The Terminator in ECW and Japan. While wrestling in WCW he became a two time United States Champion. Career Overseas (1990-1993) DeMott was trained by Johnny Rodz in his New York wrestling school beginning in 1988. From there he began working at small independent promotions using his real name. In 1992 DeMott began wrestling for the American Wrestling Federation and started using the name Crash The Terminator. Under this name he found some success, first capturing the AWF Heavyweight title from Steve Strong in Puerto Rico, before moving on to the Japanese promotion W*ING and winning their tag team championship with Mr. Pogo. In 1993, while competing in W*ING, Demott won a 16-man tournament to be crowned their heavyweight champion. Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993-1994) When DeMott returned to the United States, he wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling for a short time, before moving on to Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling where once again he won a heavyweight championship, this time outlasting a number of competitors in a battle royal to get it. World Championship Wrestling (1995-2001) In 1995, DeMott was signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) contract at the behest of Kevin Sullivan who had been impressed by him. He debuted in dark matches as The Man of Question and The Laughing Man, a strange gimmick that saw him wearing a singlet covered in question marks and laughing a lot. He made his television debut using the same gimmick, but with the name Hugh Morrus (a pun on the word "humorous") and he would stay with that for most of his WCW career. The most prominent thing about Hugh Morrus was his finisher, a moonsault dubbed No Laughing Matter. Seeing the nearly 300 pound man sail through the air impressed a number of people (both in the crowd and backstage) and Hugh was soon pushed as a mid-card face, usually in tag team matches. In 1996 Morrus turned heel by joining the Dungeon of Doom in their quest to end Hulkamania. Unfortunately, he joined at a time of flux in WCW as the Dungeon of Doom was breaking up and Hogan was making a heel turn as well. Upon the dissolution of the Dungeon Of Doom, Morrus was relegated to a lower spot on the card than ever before. As a curtain jerker he made history on September 22 1997, when he became the first wrestler to lose a televised match to Bill Goldberg. After this, still using the Hugh Morrus gimmick, he changed tracks completely. Now joining the growing Hardcore wrestling style in WCW he joined Jimmy Hart's First Family stable. It seemed that he (along with the rest of the group) were on their way to a major push when they secured a Pay-Per-View win over their Revolution rivals until the group suddenly broke up. At this time, DeMott took some time off from WCW. He returned in early 2000 utilizing the same name and ring attire, but squashing a number of wrestlers as an angrier version of himself. The angry Morrus gimmick came to a halt when Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff took over and promised to take WCW in a "new direction." After getting on Russo's bad side (in kayfabe), Morrus was fired from his "New Blood" stable along with a number of other wrestlers. These ex-New Blood members (including Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Booker T) formed the comedy stable Misfits In Action; they all adoptied new military-themed names for themselves. Morrus, the leader, re-christened himself General Hugh G. Rection (a pun on the term "huge erection"), and lead the group in a feud against the Filthy Animals. The group's comedic nature and the workrate of some of the wrestlers made the group immediate favorites with fans. Upon the introduction of the heel "Team Canada", the Misfits In Action became Made In America, though much of the gimmick remained the same. Rection feuded with Team Canada leader Lance Storm, beating him and Hacksaw Jim Duggan in a handicap match at Halloween Havoc 2000. After his feud with Lance Storm, the next night on WCW Monday Nitro, DeMott stood in the ring and spoke to the fans. During this segment, the WCW locker room emptied and many wrestlers from backstage stood on the entrance way clapping for DeMott; Bill Goldberg grabbed the microphone and said "Hey, Goldberg's streak had to start somewhere, my friend." In perhaps one of DeMott's greatest achievements in wrestling, he gained respect from his peers. The Misfits In Action eventually broke up and DeMott took the name Hugh Morrus again for a feud with former members of the stable. Morrus competed in WCW's U.S. Championship division until the World Wrestling Federation's buyout of WCW. World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (2001-2007) The Alliance When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWF) Morrus signed a deal with the WWF and became part of The Invasion angle as a member of The Alliance. Morrus made his WWF debut on the June 4, 2001 edition of Raw attacking Christian, but did not debut in the ring until July 2001. Morrus didn't make much of an impact during this angle as he mostly wrestled on WWF's B-Shows (HEAT and Jakked). He only had 3 high-profile matches, with them being at WWF Invasion on July 22 when he, along with Shawn Stasiak and Chris Kanyon, defeated Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert; on the August 9 edition of SmackDown! losing to Chris Jericho as Stephanie McMahon's hand picked opponent; and, on the August 27 edition of Raw, facing Edge for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, which Edge retained when Morrus won via disqualification. When that angle ended at Survivor Series 2001, when Team Alliance lost to Team WWF, Morrus was kayfabe fired by Vince McMahon. He was used at house shows and worked in WWF's developmental territory Heartland Wrestling Association. During his time there he, along with Raven, defeated Lance Cade and Steve Bradley to become HWA Tag Team champions on March 12, 2002. SmackDown! In April 2002, Ric Flair was able to "save his job" and get him drafted over to the SmackDown! brand. Morrus redebuted on the April 6, 2002 edition of Jakked along with Chavo Guerrero (who was also a member of The Alliance) and defeated The Hurricane and Funaki. Morrus was a mainstay on Jakked (later renamed Velocity) until late July 2002 when he was (Legit) seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and had to take a leave from the ring. During his time away he became a trainer for the third season of Tough Enough, WWEs reality television show. When he had sufficiently healed, Morrus made his return on the November 23, 2002, on Velocity, billing himself under his real name, Bill DeMott. DeMott made his official SmackDown! return on December 5, 2002 as a monster heel defeating Funaki in a squash match. After his return, he was given a push that had him squashing various wrestlers, including Funaki, Shannon Moore, Chuck Palumbo, Crash Holly and even defeating Rikishi on two separate occasions on SmackDown!. However, this monster heel push did not last long as DeMott was demoted to Velocity starting in February 2003. May 2003 came and DeMott made a face turn and started telling knock-knock jokes. The gimmick didn't get over and he was still a mainstay on Velocity, but his huge push was kept intact. His last televised match was the June 14 edition of Velocity defeating Chris Kanyon. In late June 2003 he retired from in ring action, citing years of knee injuries. In November 2003 he began working as a color commentator on Velocity until Tough Enough 4, where he once again became a trainer. Deep South Wrestling When Tough Enough 4 wrapped production, DeMott did not make a return to Velocity. Instead, he became a full-time trainer for WWE. While training wrestlers in WWE's Deep South Wrestling "farm territory", he briefly returned to in-ring action to team with The Freakin' Deacon to face The Gymini. DeMott was released from his WWE contract on January 19, 2007, with Tom Prichard taking his place as trainer. Wrestling facts *'Finishing and signature moves' :*''No Laughing Matter'' / Last Laugh (Moonsault) :*''No Joke'' (Rolling cutter) :*Powerbomb :*Sidewalk slam :*Running DDT :*Clothesline :*Diving elbow drop *'Managers' :*Major Gunns :*Jimmy Hart :*Judd the Studd :*Kevin Sullivan :*Darren Wise *'Wrestlers trained by DeMott' :*Angel Williams :*Chris Rombola :*Daniel Puder :*Danny Gimondo :*Festus :*G-Rilla :*Jake Hager :*John Morrison :*Johnny Curtis :*Luscious Latasha :*Matt Cappotelli :*Mitch :*Rhaka Khan :*Ryan O'Reilly :*Ryan Reeves :*Mike Mizanin :*Tracy Taylor Championships and accomplishments *'Americas Wrestling Federation (Puerto Rico)' :*AWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Heartland Wrestling Association' :*HWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Raven *'Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling' :*PCW Championship (1 time) (First) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' :*Ranked #'450' of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003. *'Wrestling International New Generations' :*W*ING Championship (1 time) :*W*ING Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mr. Pogo *'World Championship Wrestling' :*WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times) External links * Bill DeMott profile at CAGEMATCH.net * * Profile Category:1966 births Category:1990 debuts Category:American wrestlers Category:Commentators Category:Florida wrestlers Category:American Wrestling Federation alumni Category:AWA World-1 South alumni Category:Deep South Wrestling alumni Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Heartland Wrestling Association alumni Category:Independent Superstars Of Professional Wrestling alumni Category:Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling alumni Category:USA Pro Wrestling alumni Category:W*ING alumni Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:WCW United States Champions Category:Century Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre alumni Category:IWA Japan alumni Category:Mid Eastern Wrestling Federation alumni Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Smoky Mountain Wrestling alumni Category:United Wrestling Federation alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni Category:Professional wrestling trainers Category:WWE NXT alumni Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers